16 min
Hebrews 1:7 The Messianic Jewish Expositor
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- Religion & Spirituality
Hebrews 1:7
Hi Folks. We’re finally up to verse 7 of Hebrews, chapter one. I’m going to read it in the NIV:
Hebrews 1:7 (NIV) In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire."
I’d like to ask you a question. How can we explain this verse to someone? How can we expound it or dig the meaning out of it? I don’t think that is necessarily an easy thing to do. But, based on our last session together, I think there is a way to do it. And it’s a way that we can also apply to some other verses and passages that may not be clear.
In Hebrews 1:6, we saw that the phrase “Let all God’s angels worship Him” came from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint and we were able to understand what Hebrews 1:6 was talking about by looking at the message of Psalm 97 as a whole. And doing that opened our understanding to let us see that Hebrews 1:6 was actually telling us about the second coming of Christ. I think that the author of Hebrews expected us to see this and to get this additional understanding from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint.
This method, if we can call it that, was used by Jesus in responding to the Jewish leaders when they said certain things to Him. Let’s look at an example of that:
Matthew 21:16 (NIV) "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
Now let’s look at that verse in context:
Matthew 21:13-16 (NIV) "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" [14] The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. [16] "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
The chief priests and the teachers of the law were indignant when they saw the wonderful things that Yeshua did and when the children cried out Hosanna to the Son of David. These children were praising Jesus and calling Him the Messiah! They recognized who He was, and they exclaimed it, unlike these Jewish leaders. I’m going to quote Jesus’ response from the King James Version: Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Jesus was saying this to these leaders: You’ve seen what I’ve done but you deny that I’m the Messiah. Even these children know who I am. And haven’t you read what the Tehillim (the Psalms) say about me? Yeshua was quoting Psalm 8:2. Let’s look at that in context:
Psalms 8:1-9 (NKJV) O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! [2] Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. [3] When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, [4] What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? [5] For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. [6] You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, [7] All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, [8] The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. [9] O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
This method of quoting a verse which “hinted” at a passage of Scripture that would provide additional understanding was sometimes used by Rabbis with their students and it was given a name: remez,
Hebrews 1:7
Hi Folks. We’re finally up to verse 7 of Hebrews, chapter one. I’m going to read it in the NIV:
Hebrews 1:7 (NIV) In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire."
I’d like to ask you a question. How can we explain this verse to someone? How can we expound it or dig the meaning out of it? I don’t think that is necessarily an easy thing to do. But, based on our last session together, I think there is a way to do it. And it’s a way that we can also apply to some other verses and passages that may not be clear.
In Hebrews 1:6, we saw that the phrase “Let all God’s angels worship Him” came from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint and we were able to understand what Hebrews 1:6 was talking about by looking at the message of Psalm 97 as a whole. And doing that opened our understanding to let us see that Hebrews 1:6 was actually telling us about the second coming of Christ. I think that the author of Hebrews expected us to see this and to get this additional understanding from Psalm 97:7 in the Septuagint.
This method, if we can call it that, was used by Jesus in responding to the Jewish leaders when they said certain things to Him. Let’s look at an example of that:
Matthew 21:16 (NIV) "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
Now let’s look at that verse in context:
Matthew 21:13-16 (NIV) "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" [14] The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. [16] "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"
The chief priests and the teachers of the law were indignant when they saw the wonderful things that Yeshua did and when the children cried out Hosanna to the Son of David. These children were praising Jesus and calling Him the Messiah! They recognized who He was, and they exclaimed it, unlike these Jewish leaders. I’m going to quote Jesus’ response from the King James Version: Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Jesus was saying this to these leaders: You’ve seen what I’ve done but you deny that I’m the Messiah. Even these children know who I am. And haven’t you read what the Tehillim (the Psalms) say about me? Yeshua was quoting Psalm 8:2. Let’s look at that in context:
Psalms 8:1-9 (NKJV) O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! [2] Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. [3] When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, [4] What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? [5] For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. [6] You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, [7] All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field, [8] The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. [9] O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!
This method of quoting a verse which “hinted” at a passage of Scripture that would provide additional understanding was sometimes used by Rabbis with their students and it was given a name: remez,
16 min